Foundation of Apologetics in Scripture part B

Introduction: I Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

How can an unregenerate person understand the scriptures, which is a believer's source of truth? If the Spirit guides Christians in all truth, then how can an unregenerate person find truth apart from scripture? How can we as Christians proclaim that Scripture is a source of authority for all mankind, when the lost person sees scripture as foolishness?

“Man is not a neutral, unbiased observer in spiritual matters, capable of sitting in judgment as one religion after another passes before him in review, waiting to find one that is logically coherent, historically and scientifically factual, and personally satisfying, before adopting it as his own! Quite to the contrary,…from the Biblical standpoint, sinful men have no right to demand “proper credentials” when the Creator says to them: repent, believe the Gospel, and obey me – Now! …to give an unbeliever the impression before he repents of his sin and turns to Christ for forgiveness is to set him up on a pedestal of intellectual and spiritual pride.” The Justification of Knowledge pgs. 96-97

As apologists we should not appeal to another source of truth, especially in the ability to reason in the mind of an unregenerate person. Only scripture can “validate” itself as authority over all mankind based on the work of the Holy Spirit, and because it is God's revealed word.

“Logically the infallibility of the Bible is not a theorem to be deduced from some other axiom. The infallibility of the Bible is the axiom from which the several doctrines are themselves deduced as theorems. Every religion and every philosophy must be based on some first principle. And since a first principle is first, it cannot be “proved” or “demonstrated on the basis of anything prior…”The Word of God is the only rule to direct us hove we may glorify Him.” What Do Presbyterians Believe? pg. 18, Gordon H.Clark

This section of Dr. Reymond’s book continues the foundation of our faith is based on the whole of the Old and New Testaments. Dr. Reymond provides some reasons that both Testaments should be considered as authoritative in matters related to spiritual truth.

Prophecy and Fulfillment in Scripture:

Jesus’ attitude toward the predictive character of the Old Testament prophecy.

The examples of fulfilled prophecy listed below do not validate the authority of the Old Testament, but indicate that Jesus considered the Old Testament prophecies fulfilled, and therefore the Old Testament is authoritative.

1. Matthew 11:10 John fulfilled Malachi 3:1

2. Luke 4:16-21 Jesus claimed to be the Old Testament Messiah, and the scriptures were fulfilled in Him.

3. John 5:46-47 Jesus affirmed to the Jewish leadership that “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me.”

4. John 10:35 Jesus cited Psalm 82:6 in defense of his divine Sonship.

5. Luke 18:31-33 Jesus reference that everything written about the Son of Man by the prophets would be accomplished in Him.

Many other examples are not listed, but this list is a small representation of Jesus’ recorded fulfillment of prophecy in scripture.

Jesus’ pre-authentication of the New Testament writers.

Jesus' proclamation that the apostles would be led by the Spirit to remember the things he had taught, provides a stamp of authority on par with Old Testament scripture.

1. John 14:26 “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance everything I have said to you”.